Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) The executive administrator shall
prepare, develop, and formulate the state water plan and the Board shall adopt
a state water plan pursuant to the schedule in Texas Water Code §
16.051.
The executive administrator shall identify the beginning of the 50-year
planning period for the state and regional water plans. The executive
administrator shall incorporate into the state water plan presented to the
Board those regional water plans approved by the Board pursuant to Texas Water
Code §
16.053 and
Chapter 357 of this title (relating to Regional Water Planning). The Board
shall, not less than 30 days before adoption or amendment of the state water
plan, publish notice in the Texas Register of its intent to
adopt a state water plan and shall mail notice to each regional water planning
group. The Board shall hold a hearing, after which it may adopt a water plan or
amendments thereto.
(b) The state
water plan shall include summaries for the state and from approved regional
water plans, when available, which shall address, at a minimum, the following
topics:
(1) Basis for planning, including
sections on planning history, Texas water statutes, rules, regulations, and
Texas' water supply institutions;
(2) Description of methods used for
projecting future population and water demands for municipal and associated
commercial and institutional uses, and projecting future water demands for
manufacturing, irrigation, steam electric power generation, mining, and
livestock water uses;
(3)
Description of methods to address water quality problems related to water
supply, to ensure public health, safety and welfare, to further economic
growth, to protect agricultural and natural resources, to determine water
supply availability, and to address drought response planning;
(4) Description of future conditions which
shall, at a minimum, include:
(A) Demands for
water;
(B) Supplies currently
available;
(C) Comparison of water
demand and supply to identify surpluses or needs of water;
(D) Social and economic impact of not meeting
needs;
(E) Recommended solutions to
meet needs;
(F) Needs for which no
feasible water management strategy exists; and
(G) descriptions in subparagraphs (A) - (F)
of this paragraph shall be presented for each county and basin by the major
providers of water for municipal uses and for the following water use
categories: municipal and associated commercial and institutional uses;
manufacturing; irrigation; steam electric power generation; mining; and
livestock;
(5)
Consideration of recommendations of river and stream segments of unique
ecological value and sites of unique value for construction of reservoirs to
the legislature for potential protection;
(6) Regulatory, administrative, and
legislative recommendations that the Board believes are needed and desirable to
facilitate the orderly development, management, and conservation of water
resources, to facilitate more voluntary water transfers, and the preparation
for and response to drought conditions in order that sufficient water will be
available at a reasonable cost to ensure public health, safety and welfare,
further economic development, and protect the agricultural and natural
resources of the entire state;
(7)
The progress in meeting future water needs, including an evaluation of
implementation of all water management strategies and projects that were
recommended in the previous state water plan and projects funded by the
Board;
(8) Current and planned
preparations for, and responses to, drought conditions in the state to be used
in the development of the state's drought preparedness plan by the Drought
Preparedness Council; and
(9) With
respect to projects included in the preceding state water plan that were given
a high priority by the board for purposes of providing financial assistance
under Texas Water Code, Chapter 15, Subchapter G:
(A) an assessment of the extent to which the
projects were implemented in the decade in which they were needed;
and
(B) an analysis of any
impediments to the implementation of any projects that were not implemented in
the decade in which they were needed.
